Dallas County is seventh-fastest growing in U.S.; DM metro gains 10,662 people since 2010 Census

Dallas County is the seventh-fastest growing county in the nation, experiencing a 5 percent increase in population between April 2010 and July 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today.

Dallas County now has a population of 69,444, a gain of 3,309 from April 1, 2010. The only other Midwest county in the top 10 fastest-growing in the United was Williams County in North Dakota, which is seeing a boom related to crude oil production. Charlton County, Ga., which was up 10.3 percent, led the nation’s counties in population growth.

“Dallas County is an extreme example of what is going on in Iowa, where we are seeing a lot of spillover growth from our larger cities,” said Liesl Eathington, an economist at Iowa State University. “Dallas County just happens to be in a fortunate situation to Des Moines and is capturing a lot of the western growth.”

M eanwhile, the Des Moines-West Des Moines metropolitan area remains the fastest-growing metro area in Iowa, up 1.9 percent, a net gain of 10,622 people over the same 15-month period ending in mid-2011.

The Des Moines-West Des Moines metro area had a population of 580,255 in July 2010, the Census Bureau said. The Iowa City metropolitan area had Iowa’s second-fastest metro-area growth, up 1.5 percent, to 154,893. The Cedar Rapidsmetro area was up by 1 percent to 260,575.

Gene Meyer, president of the Greater Des Moines Partnership and the former mayor of West Des Moines said the growth seen in Dallas County reflects positively on the rest of the Des Moines metro region.

“The region is seeing strong population growth for a variety of reasons – but I believe the most compelling reason is we have a stable economy with job growth,” Meyer said. “We’ve developed a reputation as one of the best places for business and careers, and for an exceptional quality of life. This is thanks to the quality companies which call Greater Des Moines home, the jobs created by those companies, and a culture of accessibility and opportunity. Our future looks very promising. Who wouldn’t want to live here?”

The new census estimates show that 62 of Iowa’s counties lost population since 2010, continuing a shift of people from rural Iowa to the state’s urban areas, said Gary Krob, coordinator of the State Data Center in Des Moines. He noted that all nine of Iowa’s metropolitan areas gained population between 2010 and 2011.

Polk County, the state’s largest county,had a gain of 6,759 people, with a 2011 population of 437,399.

Iowa’s overall population totaled 3,062,309 in July 2011, a gain of 15,959 people from April 2010. More than one-fourth of the gain was from foreign immigration with 3,999 people moving to Iowa from other countries. The state lost 1,361 people over the same period who moved to other states.